The Pinball Arcade Rolls Out Big Plans For 2014

The Pinball Arcade has had a fantastic run through its first two season of tables on console, PC and mobile devices and, according to a massive update over on the official fan blog, 2014 will be another epic year full of new tables, tweaks, fixes and features across all platforms.

Pinball Arcade Fans site writer PIN WiZ posted a huge update to ring in the new year, relaying info directly from the development team at FarSight Studios to Pinball Arcade fans (Oh, NOW I get the site name!) concerning the next year’s worth of updates.

“2013 was another successful year for FarSight Studios’ The Pinball Arcade, which saw the addition of 22 popular and classic tables…” the post reads. “FarSight plans to greatly improve the user experience in 2014 with new featuers, game modes and even more highly anticipated tables such as Black Knight 2000, Junkyard and WHO Dunnit!”

For those unfamiliar with the game, FarSight emulates real-world pinball tables and makes them available on all manner of digital platforms, including the most recent release of Season One tables on the PlayStation 4. From long-time favorites and more modern classics to licensed tables they had to Kickstart just to get the opportunity to recreate, The Pinball Arcade’s collection of top-notch virtual tables has grown pretty dang impressive over the years, boasting tables like Theatre of Magic, Attack from Mars, Medieval Madness, Terminator 2, The Twilight Zone and more.

But while the game is already boasts an impressive virtual arcade, FarSight has set its sights even higher in 2014, gearing up to deliver 10 new tables for Season Three, alongside a host of new features like Challenge Mode, which gives players additional goals to shoot for after they’ve mastered existing goals, and online head-to-head play that features multiple payers tackling the same table at once, with your opponent’s score visible on your own screen.

The 2014 update promises additional online modes, too, as well as a brand new user interface (praise the lord) to make navigating your table collection and getting in a game easier than ever. Existing tables will also receive new emulation tweaks for better play, and the game will also boast support for Linux, home cabinets and DirectX 11.

Perhaps the most surprising addition of all is Pinball After Dark, which will likely be a separate game entirely that will allow FarSight to emulate more mature tables that would not be appropriate for the family-friendly core game.

For those of you gaming on consoles, FarSight is planning a complete re-launch of The Pinball Arcade for Xbox platforms while the content train keeps rolling on the PS3, PS4 and Vita. The PS4 should get all Season 2 tables sometime around April, with Season 3’s first table, Fish Tales, available sometime in March. The final two Season Two packs are slated for January release on the PS3 and Vita.